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chairman donald trump keeps threatening to send National Guard to the soldiers san francisco Afterward, the California city was described as crime-ridden and its residents pleaded for federal help.
But local and state leaders say that couldn’t be further from the truth, noting that overall crime has gone down and the city has begun to change its tarnished pandemic image. City residents and workers this week said they were shocked and concerned by Trump’s threat.
“This is a safe American city,” Mayor Daniel Lurie told The Associated Press last week. “We found it in San Francisco.”
The Republican president has likely cited crime as justification for sending troops to the city of about 830,000. He has deployed the Guard over crime concerns in Washington, D.C., where he has direct control over the National Guard, and Memphis, where the Republican governor supports their presence. los angeles It was the first city where Trump deployed the Guard, arguing that it was necessary to protect federal buildings and agents as protesters fought against mass immigration arrests. He has since said they are also needed in Chicago and Portland, Oregon.
Portland residents and leaders were surprised by Trump’s attention as he described the city as being engulfed by violent protests. In fact, the nightly protests were small and confined to the area outside the federal immigration building. Although there were some arrests for the violence, the demonstrations were much less intense than those that swept the city in 2020 following the death of George Floyd.
Even in San Francisco, Trump is relying on an old image of a city that is often targeted by conservatives.
“The difference is I think they want us in San Francisco,” Trump said on Fox News Sunday. “San Francisco was really one of the great cities in the world. And then, 15 years ago, it went wrong. It woke up.”
His comments angered and appalled Kate Freudenberger, who works in retail.
“You’re walking around downtown, it’s peaceful, there’s no insurrection,” he said Tuesday morning, adding that immigration officials are not as active in San Francisco as in other cities, “so there’s really nothing for us to rally around.”
marc benioffThe chief executive of San Francisco-based software giant Salesforce caused a stir when he told The New York Times earlier this month that he would welcome guard troops to help prevent crime ahead of its major annual business conference. He subsequently apologized for his comments, saying that the convention was “the largest and safest” in its history and that guards were not needed.
City emerges from conflicts
San Francisco is still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, which emptied its city and drew renewed attention to street homelessness and the open drug trade. But signs indicate that the city is on the rise. Artificial intelligence startups are snatching up office space, and home rental prices are rising. Office trips in San Francisco saw a 21% increase from last year, and public transit ridership is at its highest level since the pandemic, according to location analytics platform Placer.ai.
The Wall Street Journal declared this week that the city is emerging from its “doom cycle,” an article the mayor eagerly shared on social media.
The footpaths are clean and the tent camps have largely disappeared from view. In the Tenderloin, one of the most troubled neighborhoods, teams of city and nonprofit workers on Monday helped schoolchildren cross the street, pick up trash or provide advice to homeless people. It was a different image than during the pandemic, when hundreds of people were camping on sidewalks.
Nevertheless, the Tenderloin is a problem location for public drug use and dealing, as are the Mid-Market and Mission neighborhoods. But according to the San Francisco Police Department, overall crime is down more than 26% this year compared to the same period last year. Lurie said vehicle vandalism — which irritates tourists and residents alike — is at a 22-year low.
Lurie, a centrist Democrat who has tried to avoid confrontation with Trump by ignoring many of the president’s comments, said Monday he would welcome more federal help to arrest drug dealers and disrupt drug markets. But sending guards won’t achieve this, he said.
“The National Guard does not have the authority to arrest drug dealers — and sending them to San Francisco will do nothing to remove fentanyl from the streets or make our city safer,” Lurie said in a statement.
In 2024, San Francisco voters gave police the authority to use drones, surveillance cameras and other technology to fight crime. He also ousted politically progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin in the 2022 recall election and installed Brooke Jenkins, who is considered more tough on crime than her predecessor. Lurie has placed an emphasis on recruiting and retaining police officers, and entry-level police applications have increased by 40% over the past year.
California leaders vow to fight back
Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has said it would withdraw any deployment by force, as it did when Trump first ordered the California National Guard to Los Angeles against Newsom’s wishes. California Attorney General Rob Bonta vowed to appear in court “within minutes, if not hours” if federal deployment occurs.
Lawsuits by Democratic officials in Chicago and Portland have so far blocked troops from taking to city streets.
Retired nurse Libby Baxter said Trump has sent the National Guard to Democratic cities to create “chaos and unrest” and she fears the same could happen in San Francisco.
He said, “I believe that if they come to San Francisco it could be because we are a very tolerant community, but we don’t like it if someone comes and tries to rule or take over parts of our city.”